Sheet feeding apparatus

ABSTRACT

Apparatus for adjustably supporting a pressure roller in a sheet feeding machine. The apparatus comprises a spring member which supports the pressure roller, and a hub member which supports the spring member. The hub and spring members may be constructed separately or as a molded unit. The force exerted by the pressure roller may be varied rapidly manually, without the aid of any tools. The spring member may be provided with an auxiliary spring, and may be shaped to facilitate flexing for feeding sheets whose thickness varies.

United States Patent [191 Carbine [4 1 Sept. 4, 1973 I [22] Filed:

[ SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS [75] Inventor: Joseph C. Carbine, Wyncote, Pa.I [73] Assignee: Burroughs-Corporation, Detroit,

Mich.

July 6, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 159,874

[52] US. Cl. 271/51 [51] Int. Cl B65h 5/06 [58] Field of Search 271/51,52, 19, 22,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1895 Pickles et al 271/52X 5/1925 Grasberger et al. 271/51 Primary Examiner-Evon C. BlunkAssistant Examiner-Johnny D. Cherry Attorney-Paul W. Fish et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT Apparatus for adjustably supporting a pressure roller ina sheet feeding machine. The apparatus comprises a spring member whichsupports the pressure roller, and a hub member which supports the springmember. The hub and spring members may be constructed separately or as amolded unit. The force exerted by the pressure roller may be variedrapidly manually, without the aid of any tools. The spring member may beprovided with an auxiliary spring, and may be shaped to facilitateflexing for feeding sheets whose thickness varies.

16 Claims, 17 Drawing Figures PATENTEDSEP 4mm 3356589 SHEEI 1 [1F 3 IINVENTOR.

JOSEPH O CARBINE PATENTEDSEP 4 am y SHEEI 2 0i 3 Fig. 6

PATENTED P 41975 sum 3 or 3 Fig/2 Fig/4 Fig. /7

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SHEET FEEDING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This inventionrelates generally to sheet feeding devices and particularly to sheetfeeding apparatus for supporting a pressure roller in position forkeeping sheets against a drive member, such as a belt or pulley.

In many cases, sheet feeding machines are required to operate at highspeed, but the design of their sheet feeding elements has not achievedthe most desirable low-mass, low-inertia construction for high-speedoperation. Also, the shafts, levers, springs, etc., of the pressureroller apparatus do not afford maximum speed and efficiency forrelieving sheet jams, since in many cases such parts cannot besufficiently manipulated or removed from the jammed area. Furthermore,known designs of apparatus for supporting pressure rollers in sheetfeeding machines involve the use of several parts, which makes theassembly of the apparatus more timeconsuming and complex, and results inrelatively higher production costs. Additionally, adjustment of thepressure of the pressure rollers generally requires the use of auxiliaryhand tools.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provideimprovements in apparatus for supporting pressure rollers in sheetfeeding machines.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus havingrelatively few parts and low inertia for adjustably supporting apressure roller in sheet feeding operations.

A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus forsupporting a pressure roller and which facilitates the removal of sheetsin relieving sheet jams.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus forsupporting a pressure roller and which affords simple and rapidadjustment of the pressure of the roller.

Another object of the invention is to provide such an apparatus which iseasy to assemble, simple to use and inexpensive to manufacture.

In accordance with the above objects and considered first in one of itsbroader aspects, a sheet feeding apparatus according to the inventionmay comprise an elongate spring and an elongate hub. The spring maycomprise an elongate medial portion and a shaft-supporting portionconnected to one end of the medial portion and shaped to securelysupport a roller shaft. The hub is connected to the other end of themedial portion with its axis normal to the longitudinal axis of themedial portion, and is provided with a series of serrations on one endarranged concentrically about the hub axis. A mounting means adjustablylocates the hub on a member of a sheet feeding machine and includesdetenting means carried by the member for detenting the hub serrations.

The invention will be more clearly understood when the followingdetailed description of the preferred embodiments thereof is read inconjunction with the accompanying drawing which is described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front view ofapparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is a right side view of the apparatus of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken along line 3-3 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 55 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a right side view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken along line 8-8 ofFIG. 6.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate further embodiments of the invention.

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary sectional view of another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 13 is a sectional view taken along line 13-13 of FIG. 12.

FIG. 14 is a fragmentary sectional view of another embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 15 is a fragmentary right side view of the apparatus of FIG. 14.

FIGS. 16 and 17 show further embodiments of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the inventionis illustrated in FIGS. l-5 and comprises an elastic elongate spring 10,preferably constructed of an acetal resin plastic and having an elongatemedial portion 12 and a shaftsupporting portion 14 connected at one endto the medial portion 12. The shaft-supporting portion 14 is providedwith an elongate bore 16 fornesting a roller shaft 18. Theshaft-supporting end of the medial portion 12 is suitably slotted as at19 (FIG; 5) for freely receiving one or more idler pressure rollers 20.The shaftsupporting portion 14 is provided with pairs of elastic jaws22, 24, 26 and 28 The distance a (FIG. 1) between the jaws of each pairof jaws 22, 24, 26 and 28 isless than the diameter of the shaft 18 so asto permit the shaft 18 to be snapped into and retained in the bore16.,The rollers 20 may be caused to press with a desired degree of forceagainst a drive'member, such as a belt 31, for example, of an associatedsheet feeding machine, not shown, by suitably loading the spring 10 inamanner which will be described shortly.

. The other end of the spring medial portion 12 is connected to anelongate sleeve 30 which forms part of the spring 10 and is adjustablymounted on a hub 32 which is secured to a member 34 of the associatedsheet feeding machine, as by means of a bolt 36. The hub 32 comprises aflange 38 which may be rotationally locked to the member 34, as by meansof a dowel pin 40 which extends into the flange 38.

' The hub 32 further comprises-an elongate shaft portion 42 having aseries of external circumferential serrations 44 which mate with asimilar series of internal serrations 46 in one end of the sleeve 30.The other end of the hub shaft 42 is counterbored at 48 and providedwith slots 50 to. form it into a split collet. The collet end of thehub'shaft 42 is provided with an external circular head 52 which iscontained in an internal circular re cess 54 of substantially thesamediameter in the sleeve 30.

The apparatus is used in a sheet feeding machine for feeding sheetmaterial between the idler rollers 20 and a drive member such as thebelt 31. The force with which the rollers 20 bear against the drivemember 31 may be readily varied to suit conditions by varying the stresson the spring 10. This is accomplished manually in a rapid and simplemanner by merely pulling the sleeve 30 off the hub 32 to an extentsufficient to disengage the serrations 44 and 46, rotating the sleeve 30either clockwise or counter-clock wise, as required, and then pushingthe sleeve back onto the hub 32 until the serrations 44 and 46 are againfully engaged and the bead 52 snaps back into the recess 54, to therebylock the sleeve 30 axially and rotationally on the hub 32.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 6-8, the sleeve and hub are formed as asingle composite hub 56 so that the spring includes the composite hub 56and is of unitary construction. In this embodiment, the serrations 58are formed on the composite hub flange 38 and are detented by a pin 60press-fitted or otherwise secured in the member 34. A reduced-diametershaft portion 62 (FIG. 8) of the composite hub 56 extends through themember 34 and terminates in a split collet 64 on the opposite side ofthe member 34. The split collet 64 is formed with a counterbore 66 andslots 68 to facilitate spring action of the split collet 64.

The split collet 64 is provided with a chamfer or conical surface 70 tofacilitate inserting it into the collet opening 72 in the member 34'. Asthe split collet 64 emerges at the opposite side of the member 34 in theprocess of inserting it into the member 34', it springs outwardly tolock the composite hub 56 axially to the member 34, however, thecomposite hub 56 can still be rotated in the collet opening 72.Accordingly, to vary the pressure of the rollers against the belt in theembodiment shown in FIGS. 6-8, it is only necessary to manually rotatethe composite hub 56in the appropriate direction until it is detented inthe desired position by the pin 60. An arcuate slot 74 formed in theflange 38' facilitates flexing of the serrations 58 during manualadjustment.

The embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 9-1 1 are variations of theembodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1-5. The elongate medial portion 12 ofthe spring 10 (FIGS. 1-5) has a reduced area in the embodiments of FIGS.9-11 to facilitate flexing of the medial portion. Also, only two idlerrollers are shown in FIGS. 9-11, however, the number of idler rollers ismerely illustrative in all embodiments and is not limiting. Thus, inFIG. 9, the elongate medial portion 12' has its area reduced by means ofa rectangular opening 76. In FIG. 10, the elongate medial portion 12"has a reduced area 78. In FIG. 11, the elongate medial portion 12" isbifurcated to reduce its area by means of an elongate slot 80. Thereduced-area embodiments shown in FIGS. 9-11 permit the spring to flexmore readily when feeding oddshaped sheets, such as those, for example,which have thick and thin portions.

FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate a modification of the embodiment shown inFIGS. 6-8. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, the flange 38" is solidand the serrations are formed on a short extension 82 of the compositehub 56' and mate with an internal set of serrations 84 formed in acounterbore in the member 34". Also, the composite hub 56 is secured tothe member 34" by means of a bolt 36. The roller pressure may beadjusted in the embodiment shown in FIG. 12 by loosening the bolt 36 toan extent sufficient to permit withdrawal of the composite hub 56' fromthe serrations 84,

rotating the composite hub 56', as desired, and then reinserting thecomposite hub 56 into the serrations of the member 34" and securing thecomposite hub 56 by tightening the bolt 36.

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate a variation of the embodiment shown in FIGS.1-5. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 14 and 15, the bolt 36 is omittedand the end of the hub 32' formed with a conical split collet endportion 64', similar to the split collet 64 of FIG. 8. The embodiment inFIG. 14 permits rapid snap-action assembly of the hub 32' to the member34'. Adjustment of the spring 10 to vary the pressure of the rollers 20is similar to that described for the embodiment shown in FIGS. l-S.

FIG. 16 illustrates a variation of the embodiment shown in FIGS. l-5 inthe provision of an auxiliary spring 82, which may also be constructedof a plastic, such as acetal resin, similar to the spring 10". Theauxiliary spring 82 has one of its ends secured to the spring 10" in anysuitable manner, as by having its end portion 84 shaped in the form of adovetail and snapped into a mating dovetail opening in a protrusion 86of the spring 10". The other end 88 of the auxiliary spring 82 is biasedagainst the spring 10". The embodiment shown in FIG. 16 is particularlyuseful for feeding thick sheets or documents such as letter mail, orfilled envelopes, for example.

FIG. 17 is a modification of the embodiment shown in FIGS. l-5. in thiscase, the spring 10"" is constructed of three parts: (1) a sleeve 30'and (2) a shaftsupporting portion 14' both made of a plastic, such asacetal resin, for example, and (3) an elastic metal elongate medialportion 12"" having its ends 90 and 92 press-fitted or otherwise securedin a protrusion 94 of the sleeve 30 and in the shaft-supporting portion14', respectively. The embodiment of FIG. 17 permits the feeding ofsheets under high preload and for prolonged periods.

What is claimed is:

1. Sheet feeding apparatus comprising an elongate spring, said springcomprising an elongate medial portion, a shaft-supporting portionconnected to one end of said medial portion and shaped to securelysupport a pressure roller shaft, an elongate hub connected to the otherend of said medial portion and having its axis parallel to the axis ofsaid roller shaft held by said shaft supporting portion, mounting meansfor locating said hub on a member of a sheet feeding machine, andadjusting means for adjustably locating said hub on said mounting meansfor varying the pressure on said roller shaft said adjusting meansincluding a first series of serrations on one end of said hub arrangedconcentrically about the hub axis. 1

2. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein said mounting means includes detentingmeans for locking said hub in a fixed position from rotational movement.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said detenting means is a pinmounted on said member.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said hub is adjustablerotationally about its axis, said hub and serrations are elastic, saidpin is fixed on said member and in mesh with said serrations, and saidhub is provided with a first opening to facilitate flexing of saidserrations whenever the hub is rotated.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said member is provided with asecond opening, and said mounting means includes a spring colletconnected coaxially with said hub and lockingly insertedinto said secondopening so as to rotatably fasten said hub to said member axially.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said medial portion has asection of reduced area to facilitate flexing of said medial portion.

7. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said media] portion andshaft-supporting portion are bifurcated to facilitate flexing of saidmedial portion.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 characterized further by the provisionof an auxiliary elongate spring anchored at one end of said hub and withits free end biased against said one end of said medial portion.

9. Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said detenting means is asecond series of serrations on said member.

10. Sheet feeding apparatus comprising an elongate circular hub, meansfor securing said hub to a supporting member of a sheet feeding machine,a spring comprising an elongate medial portion, a shaft-supportingportion connected to one end of said medial portion and provided withpairs of jaws for yieldably securely supporting a roller shaft, and anelongate sleeve connected to the other end of said medial portion andhaving its axis normal to the longitudinal axis of said medial portionand slidably mountable on said hub, one of said hub and sleeve membersprovided with a first series of serrations and the other of said hub andsleeve members provided with detenting means engaged in said serrationswhen the sleeve is mounted on the hub,

said hub having a split collet at one end and a circular bead on theoutside of the hub encircling said split collet and having a largerdiameter than the inside diameter of said sleeve, said sleeve having aninternal circular recess of substantially the same diameter as the beadwhich contains the bead to lock the sleeve axially on the hub when thesleeve is mounted on the hub.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said spring is made of anacetal resin.

12. Apparatus according to claim 11 wherein said shaft-supportingportion is provided with an elongate bore for nesting a roller shaft andpairs of elastic jaws extending normal to the axis of said bore, thedistance between the jaws of each pair of jaws being less than thediameter of said shaft so as to permit said shaft to be snapped into andretained in said bore.

13. Apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said detenting means is asecond series of serrations.

14. Apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said medial portion has asection of reduced area to facilitate flexing of said medial portion.

15. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein said medial portion andshaft-supporting portion are bifurcated to facilitate flexing of saidmedial portion.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15 characterized further by theprovision of an auxiliary elongate spring anchored at one end to saidsleeve with its free end biased against said one end of said medialportion.

UNITED ENT OFFICE q (5 CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent N 33 75 5 9Dated September A, 1973 I v nwfl Joseph C. Carbine It is certified thaterror appears in the above-identified patent; and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line 33, "30" should read --31--.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of April 1971;.

(SEAL) Attest: EDWARD LFLETGHEILJR. .0 MARSHALL DANN Attesting OfficerCommissioner of Patents

1. Sheet feeding apparatus comprising an elongate spring, said springcomprising an elongate medial portion, a shaft-supporting portionconnected to one end of said medial portion and shaped to securelysupport a pressure roller shaft, an elongate hub connected to the otherend of said medial portion and having its axis parallel to the axis ofsaid roller shaft held by said shaft supporting portion, mounting meansfor locating said hub on a member of a sheet feeding machine, andadjusting means for adjustably locating said hub on said mounting meansfor varying the pressure on said roller shaft said adjusting meansincluding a first series of serrations on one end of said hub arrangedconcentrically about the hub axis.
 2. Apparatus of claim 1 wherein saidmounting means includes detenting means for locking said hub in a fixedposition from rotational movement.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2wherein said detenting means is a pin mounted on said member. 4.Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said hub is adjustablerotationally about its axis, said hub and serrations are elastic, saidpin is fixed on said member and in mesh with said serrations, and saidhub is provided with a first opening to facilitate flexing of saidserrations whenever the hub is rotated.
 5. Apparatus according to claim4 wherein said member is provided with a second opening, and saidmounting means includes a spring collet connected coaxially with saidhub and lockingly inserted into said second opening so as to rotatablyfasten said hub to said member axially.
 6. Apparatus according to claim5 wherein said medial portion has a section of reduced area tofacilitate flexing of said medial portion.
 7. Apparatus according toclaim 5 wherein said medial portion and shaft-supporting portion arebifurcated to facilitate flexing of said medial portion.
 8. Apparatusaccording to claim 7 characterized further by the provision of anauxiliary elongate spring anchored at one end of said hub and with itsfree end biased against said one end of said medial portion. 9.Apparatus according to claim 2 wherein said detenting means is a secondseries of serrations on said member.
 10. Sheet feeding apparatuscomprising an elongate circular hub, means for securing said hub to asupporting member of a sheet feeding machine, a spring comprising anelongate medial portion, a shaft-supporting portion connected to one endof said medial portion and provided with pairs of jaws for yieldablysecurely supporting a roller shaft, and an elongate sleeve connected tothe other end of said medial portion and having its axis normal to thelongitudinal axis of said medial portion and slidably mountable on saidhub, one of said hub and sleeve members provided with a first series ofserrations and the other of said hub and sleeve members provided withdetenting means engaged in said serrations when the sleeve is mounted onthe hub, said hub having a split collet at one end and a circular beadon the outside of the hub encircling said split collet and having alarger diameter than the inside diameter Of said sleeve, said sleevehaving an internal circular recess of substantially the same diameter asthe bead which contains the bead to lock the sleeve axially on the hubwhen the sleeve is mounted on the hub.
 11. Apparatus according to claim10 wherein said spring is made of an acetal resin.
 12. Apparatusaccording to claim 11 wherein said shaft-supporting portion is providedwith an elongate bore for nesting a roller shaft and pairs of elasticjaws extending normal to the axis of said bore, the distance between thejaws of each pair of jaws being less than the diameter of said shaft soas to permit said shaft to be snapped into and retained in said bore.13. Apparatus according to claim 10 wherein said detenting means is asecond series of serrations.
 14. Apparatus according to claim 15 whereinsaid medial portion has a section of reduced area to facilitate flexingof said medial portion.
 15. Apparatus according to claim 14 wherein saidmedial portion and shaft-supporting portion are bifurcated to facilitateflexing of said medial portion.
 16. Apparatus according to claim 15characterized further by the provision of an auxiliary elongate springanchored at one end to said sleeve with its free end biased against saidone end of said medial portion.